Fuse has fired up a three-year pact with the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival to become the exclusive TV partner of the event, which takes place on a 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tenn. this year from June 12-15.
The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, will mark the first time in Bonnaroo’s seven-year history that the festival airs on national TV. This year’s lineup is scheduled to include performances by Pearl Jam, Metallica, Jack Johnson, Kanye West and Alison Krauss & Robert Plant, along with more than 100 other bands.
Beginning Friday June 13 at 9 p.m., Fuse will air a half-hour archival show, Best of Bonnaroo Vol. I, showcasing some of the best performances and happenings from the seven festivals past, as part of six hours of coverage that weekend. In addition to interstitial updates that will air throughout the days, the network will present an hour version of Fuse Live from Bonnaroo at 9 p.m. on June 14, and separate hour pieces at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunday.
Content will include highlights of each day’s performances taken from the main stage, artist interviews and exclusive behind-the-scenes access. Moreover, Fuse host Steven Smith will shoot his Steven’s Untitled Rock Show program from the Manchester grounds of Bonnaroo and report live to the network’s Seventh Avenue Studio in New York City on festival happenings, which will also be available on www.fuse.tv and Fuse Mobile.
After this year’s event is in the books, Fuse will air other Best of Bonnaroo shows on a quarterly basis, according to network officials.
On-air promotion for Fuse’s coverage of Bonnaroo will begin next week on the network and its Web site. The network will also support the show with a schedule of TV, radio and print ads, as well as an online component, in conjunction with a watch-and-win Bonnaroo music trivia promotion.
Fuse will be on the ground in Tennessee with ads in the festival newspaper, on the onsite radio station and on Bonnaroo.com. Fuse will also have an on-site presence at “Centeroo,” the main festival grounds area, with a Fuse TV experience, where it will produce live TV remotes and conduct artist interviews.
“Fuse recognizes that some of the biggest events in the music calendar are festivals, and when you think about premier music festivals, you can’t get much bigger than Bonnaroo,” said Fuse president Eric Sherman. “This partnership becomes a major event for Fuse and reinforces our commitment to bringing the biggest and most popular music events to our viewers.”
Noted Jonathan Mayers, Bonnaroo co-founder, Superfly Productions: “We couldn’t be more excited to be working with Fuse as our broadcast partner. We understand that not everyone can make the long trip to Tennessee, so the fact that we can now bring the Bonnaroo experience into millions of homes is amazing.”
